OPINION:
The unprecedented chaos at the southern border under Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has devastated our country. With the spread of deadly fentanyl, increasing crime in our communities and bad actors exploiting migrant children at an unprecedented rate, the last three years have exacted a tremendous human cost.
The open border has also had a massive financial cost, bleeding many cities and states dry. Over the past three years, Mr. Mayorkas’ actions have led to the release of well over 3 million inadmissible aliens into our communities nationwide — in addition to the approximately 1.8 million known “gotaways” who have evaded the Border Patrol. Further, more than 450,000 unaccompanied alien children have crossed the border on Mr. Mayorkas’ watch, often under tragic circumstances and subject to increased risk of exploitation once they arrive.
As a result of this influx, our public institutions and emergency management entities are caring for more people than they are prepared to help, especially hospitals and school systems. As an educator — and chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee and an emergency room doctor — and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, respectively, we know the impacts firsthand.
We have heard from local leaders around the country that school districts are being stretched thin because of the flood of new students. For schools, it’s a capacity issue. Only so many students can fit into the classrooms available.
According to one report, New York City had 21,000 newly enrolled migrant children this school year. If this number of students were in North Carolina or Tennessee, it would cost our states between $2.3 million and $2.5 million a year.
A continual flow of new students will inevitably strain public resources and severely increase education costs for local and state governments as well as the federal government.
This surge is also having negative effects on the quality of education. In New York, for example, students were kicked out of their school and forced into online learning so that migrants could sleep in their gym. Parents were rightly frustrated after seeing how ineffective online education was at the height of the pandemic. Many students are still suffering from learning loss; every day of school counts.
In addition, many schools don’t have enough bilingual teachers to educate these students. Migrants are coming into the country from all over the world. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, from fiscal 2022 to 2023, Border Patrol agents at the southwestern border encountered 30,830 migrants from Turkey, 1,613 from Pakistan and 13,624 from Uzbekistan. Many school districts may have teachers fluent in Spanish or French, but most do not regularly employ staff who speak Turkish, Urdu or Uzbek. Schools will also need to employ social workers and counselors who can help these children through the trauma they may have suffered while making the journey to the border.
Student safety is also at risk. Several blue cities have housed illegal immigrants in elementary and secondary schools since the surge began under Mr. Mayorkas. For this reason, we supported H. Res. 461, which condemned putting minors in possible contact with unvetted adults who are in the U.S. illegally. American students should not be the collateral damage of Mr. Mayorkas’ border calamity.
These are the consequences of Mr. Mayorkas’ unlawful and deliberate actions that prevent CBP from securing the border. These actions also create an incentive for mass migration into communities across the country, making every state in effect a border state.
As chairs of committees in the House of Representatives, we have a duty to provide oversight of the executive branch. As diligent oversight and legislation to secure the border has been met with defiance, Congress has only one recourse to hold accountable a Cabinet secretary who does not uphold his oath of office: impeachment.
The Immigration and Nationality Act mandates the detention of illegal aliens crossing our borders, whether they have a credible fear claim or not, and limits the use of parole to a case-by-case basis for an “urgent humanitarian reason” or “significant public benefit.” By refusing to comply with this law and engaging in mass “catch and release,” Mr. Mayorkas has refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress. The Constitution distinctly gives legislative authority to Congress for lawmaking, leaving the executive branch with the sole responsibility of executing those laws.
As strong constitutional conservatives, we believe that the separation of powers is a fundamental requirement of our government and cannot be ignored — as Mr. Mayorkas has done every time he has refused to comply with the laws written by Congress.
If we turn a blind eye when a Cabinet secretary refuses to comply with the law, then we aren’t doing our duty as members of Congress.
That is why we are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be removed from office. The House must vote to impeach him.
• Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District. Rep. Mark Green is a physician and combat veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, where he served three tours. He interviewed Saddam Hussein for six hours on the night of his capture. He is chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
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